In this exercise, you will practice examining and configuring a simple LAN topology. You will begin by launching the GNS3 network emulator.
In the next steps, you will examine the pfSense firewall device. In this topology, the pfSense firewall device is a multi-purpose network appliance that provides firewall, router, and DHCP server functionality. In this topology, the pfSense firewall device functions as the LAN's primary router and default gateway.
First, you will need to boot up the firewall and power on the simulated network.
In the next steps, you will examine the DHCP Server running on the pfSense firewall appliance. DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. DHCP grants clients an IP Address (and other networking options) from a predefined pool of addresses. Hosts on the LAN configured to use DHCP will automatically be assigned an IP address when they boot up.
In the next steps, you will examine the pfSense appliance's firewall feature. You will begin by reviewing the rules table for the WAN interface.
Next, let's focus on the Router and Linux-2 devices in our LAN. Although the Router appears to be connected to the rest of the network via Switch 1, its network configuration file is actually empty. In the next steps, we will configure the Router to accommodate a new network subnet that serves Switch2 and Linux-2: 10.10.10.0/24. The Router will therefore need two NICs: one in the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one in the new 10.10.10.0/24 network.
Let's begin!